Sorry again for the silence. Victor and I have been working on some stuff in the background though, and I wouldn’t miss Havocfest for the world! When we return, which might be sooner than you think, I’m a better artist than ever and we have some stuff planned that we’ve been excited to get to for YEARS.

Much like last year’s Havocfest, when I gushed about Super Paper Mario and the influence it had on me and this comic, it’s necessary to point out something here. You may think Sharkboy would have made a better Ridley or something because he’s so gangly and purple-ish, but I absolutely cannot impress upon you enough that this comic would never have existed if not for one character:

King K. Rool.

You may not know this, but the Donkey Kong Country series is actually my favorite franchise of all time (with DKC2 being my favorite game, which I have recently learned to speedrun). I love this revenge-fueled reptile so much that I think it’s fair to say he and the Kremlings kickstarted my obsession with villains, and my desire to know what the story was like from their side, when I was as young as 4 or 5 years. Villains, and pirates, and crocodiles, and capes. When I was first brainstorming this comic, before I had Victor helping me and before it even had a name or many of its plot points in place, the main character was originally going to be some kind of hulking Bowser or K. Rool stand-in, and the story would possibly more of a parody of platformers or collectathons, although we eventually decided that was too complicated to pull off. While Skärva ended up being a skinny wizard, I left a direct reference to one of my biggest inspirations by giving him a mysterious, perpetual problem with one of his eyes. (And the cape, of course!)

My crocodilian king has been totally missing for a decade, and even longer than that if we’re looking at him actually having an important role in his own series. But part of him has lived on in this comic, just like a lot of my older inspirations that are now defunct (Banjo-Kazooie, and the classic storytelling and character-building of Paper Mario). And three months ago, my dreams came true, my vote on the Smash ballot was heard, and… hey, he’s back! Anything can happen in the weird world of video games, folks. (If you don’t know me outside of the comic, yes, I totally lost my mind with joy on that day.)

…I also just got SUPER into Castlevania as of the past few weeks, so hey, that stuff is amazing too.

Now that my gushing is over, here’s a bit of extra Havocfest content! The below characters belong to my longtime friend (and world’s most prolific Fourth fanartist) Chynna, and her buddy Sean. Why don’t you check out their adventures at That’s a Good Question?

Much love, as always! Hope to see you back with regular updates VERY soon.
-Courtney

As you well know, the past year or so has been pretty rough for the comic. The lives of Victor and I have changed in a number of huge ways and it’s going to take us a while to find our groove with working on the comic again. I only have so much art stamina, both mentally and physically (due to my wrist) and I’ve had to spend it on other things to bring in a bit of money in the past months. Rest assured, we still love the comic and its characters, and we’ll finish the story we have planned if it takes us another decade. We’re just trying to find our footing right now.

As the comic’s seventh birthday (June 4) looms, it’s become increasingly clear to me that due to prior obligations, I’m not going to have any time to draw a nice picture like I usually try to, and it breaks my heart. But I did realize I had a few pieces of fan art people were so kind to give me on my own birthday that I still need to upload to the gallery, and planned to highlight them. So I thought: why not ask for a bit more? It wouldn’t hurt.

If you’d like to help wish The Fourth a happy birthday, feel free to draw something and post a link to it here, send it to me on twitter, or any other way you know to contact me. On June 4, I’ll upload them all in their own celebratory post in addition to adding them to the fan art gallery.

I don’t expect a ton for a comic that hasn’t provided you much in recent months. But if you have a bit of time to spare and would like to be included in the celebration post, it would mean a lot to us. Don’t forget to include any social media that you want us to link to in return!